


Do I Wanna Know?

by PastyPirate



Series: My Yesterday was Blue, Today I'm a Part of You [3]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Soul Bond
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-04
Updated: 2016-04-04
Packaged: 2018-05-31 04:18:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6455461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PastyPirate/pseuds/PastyPirate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hazel knows that it's better to just wait until you meet your soulmate before dating. It saves everyone involved years of heart ache to just wait. The only issue is she's pretty positive she's known her soulmate since she was 12. Which is ridiculous, knowing your soulmate half your life is about as common as finding diamonds in the street.</p><p>Percy on the other hand, knows without a doubt that Hazel and Frank are soulmates.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Do I Wanna Know?

Hazel rolled across the bed when she heard her phone vibrate. It took her a few rolls to get to the side of the bed that had what passed for a night stand in an shoddy RV, a small shelf that held her toiletries and a framed photo of her dad clutching both her and Nico by the shoulder. She grabbed her phone and checked the message, wincing at the bright light. 

_HAPPY BIRTHDAY!_ read the message, Hazel grinned, looking over at the clock before shooting a message back. 

_It’s still only eleven here_

_Ah dang, okay I’ll wait another hour before msging you again_

The RV swayed and Hazel held up her hand, keeping the photo from tipping without thinking about it. 

_Nooo I’m bored, can you talk?_ She sent back, the dim light showing her wide smile in the dark. 

Two seconds later her phone buzzed again, this time it said “FRANK ZHANG CALLING” she quickly picked up. 

“Hey,” she shifted back in the bed, pulling the blankets around her, “what time is it there?” 

“It’s only 8, why are you whispering?” Frank sounded different, but he always sounded different over the phone, at least in Hazel’s opinion. 

“Well I don’t know how well sound carries in this RV and I don’t want to wake everybody up.”

“How is it? The RV I mean?” Frank sounded eager to hear every detail, which made Hazel smile as she sunk into her bed. 

“It’s pretty awesome, we’ve only been on the road for a couple weeks which is cool, but Percy and Jason are constantly texting Annabeth and Piper. It’s kind of adorable. Also I’m the only girl so I get the master bedroom to myself.” She paused, poking the wall as she did so, “although I feel kinda guilty about that.”

“Don’t. Boys are gross. Well I guess Nico’s not so bad. But the rest of them seem gross.” Frank sounded so serious, that Hazel couldn’t help but laugh a little bit. “So where are you in the world?”

“We’re headed to Cincinnati I guess? Our afternoon thing in Philadelphia wrapped without a hitch, so Leo decided to drive through the night and crash all morning. Cincinnati isn’t that far away.”

“You can’t sleep on the bus?” he sounded sounded so _concerned_ that that she couldn't help but smile. She could hear the clack of keys on a keyboard and realized he was at his computer, he joked the week before that he was going to make their website his homepage, she wasn’t sure he didn’t.

“I can sleep fine, I'm just a little restless.” She shrugged before realizing he couldn't see that, “they're calling this a mini tour, to prep for this huge summer tour we’re going to have and I don't know, it doesn't feel mini.” 

“You're going to be in - wow you're going to to go to Seattle and back?” Frank sounded hopeful and Hazel froze remembering that Vancouver was just across the border from Seattle.

“Yep, with a detour in Nashville, New Orleans, Denver and somewhere else I think.” She does her best to sound delighted, and Frank must pick up on the manic tone in her voice because just made a noise of recognition in response. “We’ve decided to spend christmas in New Orleans after we film _Sorrow Becomes My Best Friend_. We’re going to get gumbo.” 

“Oh that sounds nice,” Frank’s keys clacked across the line, “there’s still tickets to see you in Seattle-”

“Which you will not be paying for, I'll get some backstage passes sent to you. You're an old friend of the band why would you pay?” Hazel poke at a hole in the wall, imagining cute chubby Frank standing behind the curtains as she wailed on the drums.

“I'd pay to support the best band in the world obviously.” 

“Well I'll send you a shirt, support us by walking around in that,” she grinned into the darkness “what size should I send you?”

“How about we compromise. You can send me tickets but I'll buy my own shirt.” There was more clacking “whoops I just bought a shirt.” 

“Frank!” Her admonishment was neutralized with a giggle.

There was a quick rap on the door followed by Nico’s voice quietly saying her name.

“Oh I gotta go! Bye!” 

“Bye,” if Frank said anything else she didn't hear it, her phone was off and she was sitting up in her bed. 

“I'm off the phone!”

“Can you come out when you have a moment?” Nico asked quietly, Hazel scrambled to get herself together and pull a robe on over her pajamas. She felt the bus roll to a stop.

She ducked her head out of the door and saw a dim light in the kitchen area. She looked out of the window in the boy’s bunks to see that they'd pulled up to another nameless rest area in the middle of nowhere, which meant that they were crashing for the night. 

“What’s going on-” Hazel stopped midsentence at the sight of her brother and bandmates holding up a sloppily made cake with her name written across the front in purple and gold. As she stood there with her hands over her mouth, they burst into song, singing Happy Birthday- Percy making it operatic as the other three kept fighting laughter to keep singing. 

“Oh you guys!” Hazel said as she wrapped up, her eyes flitting to the clock to see it was still a few minutes after eleven, “you didn’t have to do this!”

“We figured we’d do it early and surprise you, come on, blow out the candles!” Percy lifted the cake higher, and it slid dangerously to the edge of the dollar plates they had. 

Hazel didn’t bother to come up with a wish, what would she wish for? Better friends? It felt wrong to wish for a mate right when you turned eighteen. It could be years before she met someone. At that moment she had everything she could want.

“This looks delicious!” She slid into the little table area, Percy setting the cake in front of her as Jason pulled out their other plates and put them on the table. 

“Don’t lie, it looks like crap.” Nico grumbled, handing her the knife. 

“Okay well you try baking something when the RV is going twenty over the speed limit-” Leo shot back, placing the forks by the plates. 

“I still don’t understand how it’s possible-”

“Shhh, Jason. Don’t question my genius.”

“You guys-” Hazel started, but Nico pulled out a wrapped box from the couch. “You _guys._ ”

“We couldn’t get you a present each because the RV is too tiny, so we figured we’d get you one small present for the tour and then when we get back to New York we’ll give you the rest of it.” Nico set the present down next to the cake. The knife clattered as she set it down to pull the box to her. 

“You shouldn’t’ve!” She said as she started carefully unwrapping the paper. 

“You’re one of those aren’t you?” Percy shook his head sadly from where he sat across from her. Nico slid into the bench next to her. “Who carefully unwraps paper?”

She didn’t justify him with a response, instead opened the box she’d carefully uncovered. She pulled up the dress, careful not to let it dip into the cake. Just like the cake it was gold, with swirls of purple flowers along the edge of the A-line skirt. “It’s so beautiful!” 

“We were going to get you a new drum set but we figured that might be much.” Jason shrugged slightly. 

“No this is great, I love it. And I love the cake.” 

“Hey, eighteen is a big deal, you’re now legally old enough to be annoyed by every reporter who asks you if you’ve met your soulmate yet.” Leo nodded sagely, “or you will be in forty minutes.”

“It’s almost as big of a deal as turning twenty-one, but you saw how that went.” All of them studiously ignored the whiskey that they’d bought for Nico’s birthday, but hadn’t dug into until the first night in the RV. It still sat in shame in the window. 

“I’m going to wear this as we film the music video- but for now let’s have cake!” 

Hazel did the honors, dishing out the cake as they started talking about the tour, the third album they were starting to think about making, and how poor of a baker Leo was. The minute Hazel turned eighteen she was deep in an argument about the pros and cons of each Doctor with Leo, as Nico carefully washed dishes and Percy and Jason were trying to do post cake handstands. 

When she finally went back to her room, letting the boys change into their pajamas in privacy, she hung up the dress along with her other dresses, smiling as she patted the fabric. She flopped onto the bed, shifting to dig out her phone from under her hip. 

_Happy Birthday, for real this time._

Her heart fluttered unfairly as she held the phone to her chest. She took a deep breath and reminded herself, that people rarely knew their mates before they turned eighteen. That was the stuff of fairy-tales and dramas. Not of real life. 

_Thanks!_ she shot back, rolling over onto her side to fall asleep with her phone in her hand. A traitorous voice in her head muttering _but it does happen_ , smiling she fell asleep.

____________

It’s after their performance in Nashville (a new record high attendance!) and a quick detour to Memphis to be idiots in Graceland, that Hazel finally brings it up.

In actuality, Nico brings it up. 

“So you’ve been texting Frank a lot lately.” Nico said by way of conversation starter. 

“Tell Frank I say hi!” Percy shot from the living room, as he stood up to move towards the bunks, “One of my top three favorite campers!” 

“You can’t say that when you only had three campers.” Jason held the curtain open for Percy. 

Nico just shook his head from where he sat in the driver’s seat, dragging them closer and closer to New Orleans. 

“I think Percy is just happy he never had to have more than two campers at a time. Jason had twelve the year Percy just had the two of you.” Nico had spent that summer curled up in bed allegedly recovering from the flu. It’d been just her and Frank- the last two kids to sign up at camp- in Percy’s group. The two awkward outcasts from Camp Jupiter following around the coolest kid at Camp Half. At seventeen, Percy seemed more like an otherworldly character then an awkward teenage boy. Percy never really seemed to go through an awkward stage. He appeared one day fully formed in a swimsuit and t-shirt ready to win every trophy. 

“We had so much fun that summer,” Hazel smiled as she remembered how she and Frank only had to sit in the canoe as Percy rowed like a maniac and got them to their island campsite before the rest of the camp. Jason had been last. 

“When is the last time you saw Frank?” Nico drove like he was driving a sedan through suburbia, not an RV going ten above the speed limit through Louisiana. 

“Um, we were counselors together when I was sixteen I think? Yeah, then last summer I was touring and he was in boot camp.” She fiddled with her phone before shooting Nico a look out of the corner of her eye, “He’s going to the Seattle show next week.” 

“Nervous?” He gave her a look out of the corner of her eye, which made her look at the empty road cast in darkness. 

“No, why would I be nervous?” She waited a beat, “I’m terrified.”

“It’s going to be okay-”

“What if he’s my mate? I’ve spent all these years keeping him at an arm’s distance because I didn’t want to be those kids with a stupid crush that breaks their heart- Sorry-” Nico just shook his head and Hazel kept talking “-only to find out that all this time it wasn’t just stupid feelings, it was _soulmate_ feelings?”

She gasped, sitting back, “what if he isn’t my soulmate? Then I spent all this time having feelings and not acting on them or telling him, and I’ll have to deal with the heartbreak anyways-”

“It’s okay Hazel,” Nico shrugged, “having stupid feelings when you’re a teenager is a part of life. By the time I turned eighteen I’d already gotten over Percy.”

“But I remember when you had a crush on Percy, it was so bad! You stayed home one year because of it-”

Nico shot a glance towards the empty rest area, the mumbled sounds of Leo, Jason and Percy talking in the bunk area. 

“Yeah, okay, keep that down. My crush on Percy was ill advised, and awful and many things. It was even worse when I accidentally outed myself to Jason and Jason spent all of his free time trying to reassure me and help me- but eventually _I got over it_ and now I’m good friends with Percy.” Nico shrugged again, “and _Sorrow Becomes my Best Friend_ is getting us on the map.”

Hazel wrinkled her nose, “what are you trying to say?”

“I’m trying to say that you shouldn’t run from it. Frank will be your mate, or he won’t be. There are millions of people in the world who may or may not be your mate. If Frank isn’t your mate, it’ll suck for awhile, but you guys are good friends without the complication of dates between you. Don’t worry too much about it. You’re borrowing trouble.” Nico rolled his eyes, “Trust me on that.”

“So what, should I go write a song to put us on the map?” Hazel shrunk into her chair, the lyrics forming in her mind even as she joked. 

“Listen, you’re in a band. You’re supposed to use music to write out your feelings.” Nico leaned forward, pressing the radio on, “now go get some sleep.” 

Hazel stood up, pressing a kiss to Nico’s temple before standing upright, “best brother in the world.”

Nico didn’t justify that with a response, just another roll of his eyes.

_________

The French Quarter was weird, mainly in that it’d been over ten years since she stood at the corner in the square, and it felt like not a moment had passed. She looked around at all the tourists and buskers, before looking at Nico. Nico’s eyes kept flitting up to what had once been their family’s spacious apartment overlooking the square and the church, a few steps from the river and Bourbon Street in either direction.

“Oh this place is _amazing_. Why did you guys ever leave?” At Leo’s words, both Nico and Hazel’s eyes met before flitting away. 

“Okay, so we have to get up early to record the music video for _Sorrow Becomes my Best Friend_ so let’s get some dinner and head to the hotel!” Jason tucked his phone with their tour itinerary in his pocket. 

“There’s a gumbo place over there-” Hazel pointed down the street, remembering as if it was yesterday how her mother would herd the four of them to the restaurant every so often. “Actually-”

“Let’s go to the other one,” Nico pointed to the restaurant her mother hated, and refused to go to because an old enemy was the chef there. 

“Yeah, let’s.” Hazel shot another glance down the street towards her mother’s favorite gumbo restaurant, frowning. 

When they were finally seated, Hazel pulled out the sheets she’d tucked in her dress. “Alright, it’s official. I have the first lyrics to a song for our third album.”

She refused to let her hand shake as she set them down in the center of the table, Jason was quicker than Percy, snatching the lyrics up to read them over. 

“Holy crap, Hazel.” Jason said, looking at Hazel who was sitting on her hands as Jason passed the lyrics to Leo. 

“Fuck, that is- that is too real.” Leo passed it on to Nico. Percy was at the edge of impatience and looked over Nico’s shoulder. 

“Is it good?” Hazel shot a look at Jason and Leo before daring to look at Nico and Percy. 

“It’s really good,” Nico handed the lyrics to Percy, “Do you want to sing it?”

“No!” She said a bit too loudly before looking at Percy, “Percy’s voice would do it more justice I think.” 

“I think no one could do this justice- but I’ll do my best.” Percy handed the lyrics back to Hazel, who looked down at the song. She’d written it in a frenzy as the RV tried to rock her to sleep. It was a short song where the narrator, Hazel in this case, waffled over wanting to know whether or not someone was their soulmate. 

“Now here’s the real question, who is the song about?” Leo got a swift kick from someone as he asked it, “It’s a legitimate question!” 

Percy stared at Hazel for a moment, before frowning, “It’s Frank isn’t it?”

“Do I have it written on my forehead?” Hazel grabbed the bread in center of the table, pulling off a bite as she ignored Leo’s frown and Jason’s sympathetic gaze. 

“No, you guys have been really close for a really long time.” Percy patted her hand, “It’ll work out.”

“Yeah, look at Percy and Nico, they’re best friends now- and Percy had no idea that _Sorrow Becomes my Best Friend_ was about him when he first read it-” Leo snickered into his hand as he spoke. 

“For the love of- how many years are we going to make fun of me for that? How would I know that anyone had a crush on me-” Percy grumbled, and the conversation turned to more familiar waters. 

“Okay, I don’t have a crush on you anymore but you _do_ own a mirror right? With your general-” Nico gestured towards Percy’s face, as Percy ran a nervous hand through his hair, “and your-” the second gesture went up and down Percy’s chest. 

“I was _sixteen_ I didn’t even know that people noticed me beyond-”

“Subject change!” Leo sang loudly, “I hear that santa claus is going to give me a new soundboard for Christmas-”

Hazel grinned as the conversation took a radical change towards inanity. Her phone vibrated in her lap as she got a text from Frank asking how New Orleans was, she just smiled wider.

_________

Hazel felt vaguely ridiculous as she walked along the edge of the park, her fingers trailing against the cold iron spikes topped with the fleur-de-lis with a vaguely melancholy look on her face, mouthing the words to the song that no one was playing for her.

She focused by keeping her mind distracted, she thought of the music to go with her lyrics (heavy and rhythmic drums, guitar echoing the words, the desperate tone that Percy would have to sing with) or what she should get her brother for Christmas (not another Mythomagic book) or Frank (definitely a Mythomagic book) and the name of her song ( _Are We?_ ) until the director yelled “CUT!”

She spun around, the gold and purple dress spinning with her as she faced the cameras that had been walking behind her. 

“Alright, let’s do it again from the top, this time the cameras will be in front of Ms.Levesque, then we need to hurry up and do Mr.Grace’s bit by the river-” The director spoke quickly, walking Hazel back towards the first mark. The cameras scrambled behind them, lining up perfectly as Hazel focused harder on her face and on mouthing the correct lyrics as she walked again, this time making sure to carefully glance towards the cameras once or twice as she walked the entire length of the fence for what felt like the hundredth time. 

“And! Perfect! Someone take Ms. Levesque towards the rest of the band please? And someone tell Mr.Valdez that it is possible to do it in less than twenty takes?”

Hazel was walked over to the street between the Church and the square, where Leo and Percy were setting up the band equipment, she winced as she saw Percy set her bass up incorrectly. She rushed over to join them, her flats slapping against the stones as she did so. “Let me!”

Percy yawned and stepped away from her drumkit, and she started fixing his errors. “Did you get a chance to nap?”

Percy just shook his head, he was at the aquarium before it opened, and before the rest of them even left make up. “I don’t remember the other music video being this hard.” 

“Well the other music video we just let them pelt us with balls for a day.” Leo waved as Nico and the second film crew showed up. “Anyways, it should be a cool video. I don’t know why we had to do it all in one day.”

Percy just shrugged, fist bumping Nico as Nico bypassed him to go to the grand piano someone had wheeled out into the middle of the street. 

“You’re just saying that because it took you a million takes to get your part done,” Hazel sat at her drum kit, feeling whole again as she always did when there were sticks in her hands and drums in front of her. 

“Not everyone can be a flawless human being like you, _Hazel_ ” Leo shot at her, and she just smiled. A part of her wondered if Leo’s name would show up on her arm when she turned eighteen, even though he was a few years older than her. He reminded her so much of her childhood friend Sammy. But it’d been days, and no _LEO VALDEZ_ showed up on her arm. 

The four of them stood around gossiping, and Hazel shared her title with the rest of the group as they waited for Jason to join them. They were all wearing suits, although Percy’s tie was no longer tied, and Nico’s still looked flawless. Leo had long since untucked his shirt under his coat. They all had gold ties on to match Hazel’s dress, which stood out among them. 

Jason finally jogged up, a crew following as the second crew had been setting up lights. 

“Alright people! Let’s get this done and wrapped up!” The director shouted as they got into their places. The twenty-four hour busker license hanging from Percy’s jacket as he looked around at all of them, waiting for them to be ready. 

“And- ACTION” the director shouted, Percy nodded twice before Hazel began to hit the bass, drawing Jason and Leo in as she lost herself to the rhythm of the music. She watched as people crowded the edges, some of them ducking into the edge of the frame to drop dollars in a hat that someone from production had laid out. Most of them clustered towards the edge to subtly videotape them on their cellphones. 

Percy ran his fingers through his hair and tapped his foot against the ground as he belted out the song, making random bystanders furiously wipe at their eyes with half smiles on their face. She looked over at Nico and wondered what it was like, to have to listen to the object of his affection sing the song that Nico wrote to get over him. Nico just had a look of concentration on his face as his fingers flew across the piano.

“Alright!” The director shouted as the song drew to a close, “let’s reset so we can get more shots of the band to choose from!”

Hazel rubbed her sticks together as she always did before playing, an odd habit she’d picked up when she was young. A camera was right beside her and she ignored it like the director had told them to, instead staring towards Jason and Leo who were stretching their fingers and chatting for a moment. 

“Ready, 3-2-” the director pointed and Hazel jumped in, hitting her mark along with her bandmates. Jason stood, coolly playing the guitar like he’d been born with electricity between his fingers, as Leo tapped his foot and shifted his hips as he played- always on the move. 

The director made them play the song two more times before letting them break down. The cameras were still rolling as they laughed and packed away their equipment in the storage hold for the RV. The grand piano was wheeled back to wherever it came from, and the five of them sat down on a bench in front of the church waiting for further direction. Hazel leaned on Nico as Leo jumped up, standing between Percy and Jason before sitting heavily on the back of the bench. 

Hazel yawned and tucked her feet under her dress, Nico’s arm wrapping around her shoulder as Jason leaned over to say something to him. Percy was leaning on his arm and joking up at Leo. 

It was the kind of perfect moment that made her happy she was on tour, a smile edged her face as she fought the urge to fall asleep. 

She woke with a start in the hotel room, she sat up in her cot to see all four boys sitting in their beds, calmly eating chips and watching Ghostbusters. 

“Good morning sleepyhead!” Leo chimed, eating another chip. 

“Is it-”

“No it’s dinner time, Leo is just playing. Something came for you.” Nico pointed to the foot of her bed, she sat up to see two wrapped packages. 

She opened the bigger one first, the label read an address in canada, and the box had “GO CAMP JUPITER” written all over it, she grinned. She and Frank had met first at Camp Jupiter where they learned to fight. It’d been a hobby that her father found endearing, and his family found necessary. She opened the box and dug through the styrofoam for her hand to press against something cold and sharp, gently she pulled out the sword. 

“Holy shit, Frank sent you a _sword_?” Percy asked from his spot on his bed. Hazel was too busy swinging the sword like Dakota taught them to listen. 

“What’d dad send you?” Nico asked, pointing to the other box wrapped in all black. She set the sword down on the edge of her cot, and pulled the other smaller box towards her. 

She unwrapped it, pulling out a necklace of gold and diamonds, like the sword it felt cold to the touch and heavy in her hands. 

“Holy shit that’s some swag!” Leo leaned over Nico to look at it, “do you rich kids just get bling for your birthdays?”

Hazel set it back in the box, she didn’t need to look at the card to know what it was. “It was my mom’s. I didn’t realize dad had it.”

She looked over at the boys who were all staring at her with varying levels of concern, “it’s okay, he got it for her as a wedding present because she always wanted gold and diamonds.”

She’d gotten her gold and diamonds, five years of lavish wealth and luxury. “I guess it’s a reminder.”

A reminder that soulmates were always just on the horizon, and to be careful of the hearts that were handed to you before your soulmate appeared. She dropped the necklace back into the box before standing up. 

“Dinner?” 

“Yeah, we’re waiting to pick up the girls from the airport first.” Jason supplied, a little half grin on his face as he and Percy fist bumped without looking. 

“You _nerds_ ” Hazel said fondly. 

She always loved it when the girls joined them. It made everything feel like less of a sausage fest. The last four months were spent with the group finding the perfect replacement to the Argo (as getting a hotel room in every city they had a show in and then rushing to drive all day in a crappy van got old) and plan their new tour while re-recording their second album and their B-tracks. She got to know Piper and Annabeth pretty well. Their crowded Brooklyn apartment became a second home, as the seven of them met up there for what Jason called ‘Family dinners.’ Game nights would go on until the early hours, there’d be homework parties in the kitchen, as Hazel’s books creeped into Piper’s law books. There’d be nights when the lot of them crowded around the living room, gossiping as Hazel curled into the couch texting Frank. They almost never went to Nico and Hazel’s spacious manhattan apartment; which looked like it’d been designed at the start of World War Two and was promptly abandoned. Their apartment had been cold and unfeeling- desperately trying to be homey. Whereas the Brooklyn Apartment with second (or fourth) hand furniture held stacks of books and inventions, there was always a half eaten bowl of mac and cheese in the fridge and a partially used bottle of blue dye on the counter. 

Piper and Annabeth never touched an instrument, nor did they do more than offer commentary on songs and video, but they felt like a part of the band nonetheless. 

When the girls showed up, they had to go back to get more gumbo, because New Orleans wasn’t New Orleans without gumbo. They laughed as they ate, Piper nestling into Jason’s side like they were one person, and Annabeth letting Percy steal chunks of andouille out of her gumbo. Hazel imagined sitting with Frank and eating gumbo, how he’d probably blush and stammer but lean into her personal space. A blush rose on her cheeks at the thought and she smiled down at the gumbo. 

After dinner they went on a ridiculous vampire tour, because Annabeth was intrigued. Nico spent the entire time scoffing at the narrator’s dramatics. Everyone but Hazel was allowed into the oldest bar in America. Hazel had to stand on the cobblestoned streets outside, watching people come and go. Snapchatting Frank the entire time. 

At the end of the tour the couples wandered off to be disgusting and coupley, while Nico and Leo each took one of Hazel’s arms. Hazel and Leo joked the whole way to the hotel, but even in the darkened lights she could see Nico grinning. 

She dropped onto the bed, freshly washed and pajamas on, gingerly putting the spatha onto the bedstand she was sharing with Nico. She could hear Leo and Nico bickering in the bathroom and just turned over in bed, grinning widely as she did so. 

For the last time before dropping off to sleep, she checked her phone. 

_Goodnight Hazel_

_Goodnight Frank!_ she shot back, before dropping back to sleep.

________

“Being-nets?” Percy asked, butchering the pronunciation.

“Beignets,” Annabeth said, before repeating it slowly “ben-yays.”

“Beignet-” at Annabeth’s nod he continued “are donuts?”

“They’re more fritters, powdered sugar covered fritters.” Hazel was walking arm in arm with Annabeth and Piper, her arm looped over Piper’s tattoo. “They’re really big here, I mean metaphorically, they’re popular.”

“They’re also messy-” Nico started, and a photo of Nico smeared in powdered sugar jumped to Hazel’s mind. 

“How long did you guys live here anyways?”

“Six years, until Hazel was five.” Nico supplied helpfully as he got into line. His french was awkward and stilted as he ordered, Piper helpfully leaned forward and gently corrected him. 

They took the tray of beignets and sat at a table, Percy and Leo didn’t bother to wait before tearing into them. 

“Why’d you leave anyways?” Jason asked as Hazel snapped a photo to send to Frank. 

It was as if _she_ was summoned by Jason’s words. Hazel looked up and saw a woman, who didn’t look a day over thirty-five but Hazel knew for a fact that she was approaching fifty, herding two ten year old boys to the counter to order. 

The woman looked up, her eyes meeting Hazel’s across the restaurant, and a thought flitted through Hazel’s mind _Maybe she won’t recognize me_. Which would be impossible. It would be like looking into a mirror and seeing her younger self. Hazel felt like she was staring at herself thirty years into the future. The woman’s hands clutched the boys’ shoulders for a moment, and Hazel dimly registered that she had _brothers_. 

There was a scant moment where terror of something filled Hazel, maybe she’d walk over and say hi like the last thirteen years never happened. Maybe she’d run away in shame. 

Hazel definitely didn’t think her mother would look away and herd the boys towards the counter, the same way she used to herd Hazel. 

Hazel stood up, breaking off all the conversation at the table. A bevy of options laid before her, she could stomp over to the counter and shout at her mother, something, _anything_ to get her mother’s attention. Or should burst into tears right then and there, because even if she went over to her mother, and even if she talked to her, it wouldn’t change anything. Hazel was a footnote in Marie Levesque’s life. A means to an end, and an end to a means. 

“I’m going to go lay down.” She announced to the group at large, fleeing without even eating a beignet.

________

Frank’s name appeared on her caller ID as soon as she put her pen down, raw and tired, she thought about letting it go to voicemail, but she wanted to hear his voice.

“Hey,” she answered, trying not sound sullen. 

“Hey! How’s New Orleans?” He asked, cheerful as ever. 

“I saw my mom.” And Frank, as perceptive as always, balked. 

“Oh no-”

“She didn’t even try to talk to me, she just ignored me-”

“Oh _no_ ”

“I don’t get it- who would do that? Just ‘hey I found my soulmate, you’re now useless to me and a reminder of the years I spent in denial bye!’” Hazel spent most of her time trying not to be bitter about it. She was better off with her father. There’d always been something missing in her relationship with Marie, even as a child she knew that her mother didn’t care much for her or Nico. Everything was steps in a well rehearsed play, only Hazel had been trying to make it real. 

“Want me to do something? Put spiders in her bed or send her faulty Imports? We have a lot of those at the warehouse-”

“No, it’s okay,” she poked the pad of paper in her lap with the pen, “I wrote about it. I feel better, it just- it’s never fun to be reminded of how quickly I was thrown aside.”

“Yeah no, but just because she threw you aside doesn’t make _you_ any less. You’re still loved!” Frank sounded like he’d been reading self help books in preparation for this day. She couldn’t help but giggle at the thought of Frank bent over books about abandonment and self worth. 

“Thanks Frank, I’ll be okay,” she curled into the bed, “tell me about your day please?”

Frank hesitated a moment before describing to her about his trials at the gym and how he accidentally knocked over a row of staffs. She grinned into her pillow and felt slightly better.

________

It took another day- they checked out of the hotel early and spent Christmas Eve on the road in the RV, the girls sitting in the master bedroom with Hazel to cheer her up- before Hazel was emotionally ready to share the song with them.

“Holy shit.” Was Leo’s eloquent response as she lowered the paper. “Holy _shit_.”

“That is- wow Hazel. Two songs in one week. Both of them make me feel things.” Percy held out his hand for the paper, and she handed it to him. 

_Are We?_ was optimistic, emotionally exhausting in the confusion but ultimately optimistic, _Going to Make you Regret Leaving Me_ was not optimistic at all. It was raw and painful, it was a ballad to all the kids who were abandoned when their parents found their soulmates. 

“Is it too dark?” She sat down on the couch, looking at her bandmates for reassurance. 

“It’s the right amount of dark, and I think it’ll definitely keep us in the ‘we sing about flawed soulmates’ camp.” Nico took the paper from Percy, “I mean holy shit, this is going to make _21_ seem like an emotional cakewalk.”

“We should have a sign for how many days we go without mentioning Adele,” Leo offered, “In fact let me get an expo marker, I’ll stick it on the mirror.”

Hazel just rolled her eyes as Leo went on a hunt for an expo marker. 

“You know, I can’t imagine it- I mean my dad dated before finding his soulmate- he hasn’t even found his soulmate. And I was going to date Jason whether or not he was my soulmate-” Jason fist-bumped her at that, causing Hazel’s romantic heart to lift, “-but I couldn’t imagine leaving my kid.”

“I don’t think Marie was too attached to me. I mean she didn’t hate me, but she didn’t love me either. She didn’t like her life, she was trying to improve her situation by marrying a rich lonely guy and giving him a child. But then you know, she found her soulmate.” Hazel shrugged, “I think I’ve gotten all my anger out. I hope she’s happy, because I’m happy. I have an amazing band, we’ve made it to number 45 on the rock charts this week, and when we get to Seattle I’m going to see my best friend.”

She nodded, as everyone looked at her with wide eyes, verging on the edge of sadness. 

“Seriously! I’m happy,” Leo bust in as Hazel spoke and wrote on the window. 

“There! We got our Adele mentions sign now.” Leo poked it. “Now we can keep track of the ridiculous addiction we have as a band. It’s sad, we’re a _rock_ band.”

“We should do a rock cover of _Someone Like You_ ” Percy supplied. 

“You just want to sing Adele to show off your vocal range,” Hazel rolled her eyes again as Percy nodded enthusiastically. 

Percy ducked as Jason whipped a pillow at him, “haters to the left my vocal range is magnificent!”

________

They spent Christmas in a park somewhere that let them hook up the RV. Hazel refused to talk more about her mom, nor did she let anyone interrogate her more about Frank. New Orleans had been a bitter reminder of why she’d never let herself date during high school or until she turned eighteen. If she didn’t meet her soulmate until she turned ninety-seven, she’d spend that time doing other things. _Not_ dating to fill a void.

She held her resolution even as Frank (at her request) sent her a photo of him doing pushups, because she just couldn’t imagine the same Frank who fell off the rope course doing pushups and had teased him accordingly about it. 

“Holy shit,” Piper muttered over Hazel’s shoulder, “That kid makes Jason look like a wiry anemic-”

“Please stop,” Hazel blushed, Frank no longer looked like an awkward chubby kid. He did look like he could bench press a car. 

If she met up with Frank and her name didn’t appear on his arm, or vice versa, then they’d just be friends. All of this bottled emotion would have to go into her music, and their friendship _would not suffer_ for it.

“Frank’s just a friend,” she muttered to Leo somewhere outside of Denver, as they got ready to play a packed theater, Leo just nodded knowingly and fiddled with his bass Festus.

The text messages became more frequent the closer they got to Seattle, with Frank counting down the days until she arrived. 

_There’s a restaurant I’ve been meaning to try in Seattle! We should go there to catch up before the show._ he messaged when they were two days out from the Seattle show. 

She groaned, looking at the phone. If she went and he turned out to be not her soulmate, it could very quickly turn into an awkward date. She couldn’t just turn off her feelings for him, she _liked_ Frank. Frank was fun and cool and yes, he looked like a muscular version of himself now. But that didn’t change the fact that he’d spent their last phone conversation listing the pros and cons of mythomagic characters. 

_Yeah, let’s do lunch buddy._ Even as she hit send Hazel groaned and let her phone drop onto her face. 

“I know that feel bro.” Percy said from where he sat at the table with his pen poised over his own notepad. 

“You don’t even know what I’m groaning about.” 

“But I got your back Hazel!” 

She just groaned again.

________

It was exactly twenty-four hours before she was going to meet Frank for lunch that Leo called everyone over to his computer. They all crowded onto the couch as he hit play.

The video opened with Percy sitting in the atrium for the aquarium, lights playing off his face as he sucked in a deep breath. The video cut to Hazel looking over her shoulder and walking along the fence, Jason sticking his hands in his pocket as the light played off his hair at the edge of a river bank, Leo standing in front of a mechanic shop where lights were playing in the distance, and Nico standing at the edge of a broken tombstone in the cemetery. 

The music cut in, melancholy and sad, the video cutting from all five of them as they lipped the lyrics and stared forlornly into the distance. As ridiculous as she had felt doing it, the director was right. It did look good in action. 

As the music picked up the scene changed to the five of them playing in front of the church. There was a quick cut during a moment where there were no drums, just sullen piano, to Hazel rubbing her sticks together, then Nico’s fingers playing across the keyboard, before cutting back to a wide shot as Jason, Hazel and Leo jumped in and Percy belted out the chorus. 

The camera men who just seemed to invade their personal space had done an amazing job of getting the right angle with the light. There was a scene where Leo had a halo of sparks, followed by Nico standing in light while the rest of the cemetery was cast in darkness. 

The song drew to its close, optimistic for the future but sad for the moment, with a shot of the five of them sitting on the bench. Leo sitting down on the back as Percy leaned forward to speak. 

The last image was of the four boys walking away down a darkened street towards the hotel, Nico and Percy’s arms wrapped around a blearily walking Hazel. 

“I had no idea they were filming us then,” Leo scrunched his nose, “consent is key ya creepers.”

“I don’t hate it.” Hazel looked at the last frame, she couldn’t remember walking back to the hotel, but it looked nice, the five of them walking away from the cameras and out of the range of lights.

“Do we want to keep it or reshoot?” Percy asked, “all in favor of keeping it raise your hands.”

All five of them raised their hands. 

“Alright, I’ll send them the okay and they’ll put it up on our website.” 

Hazel leaned forward and hit replay, “I think i like this more than the other one.”

“At least in this one we’re not wearing gym clothes.” Nico added, and Hazel nodded with him.

________

“It’s the morning of truth!” Percy stood in her doorway as Hazel sat on her bed, trying to tame her hair.

“It’s not the morning of anything. I’m just going out to have lunch with an old friend.” Hazel fought the blush better than her curls. 

“Sure thing buddy,” Percy leaned against the door frame, Annabeth’s name clear in the dim light, “like you’re not totally freaking out right now.”

“Like? Totally? Are you secretly a valley girl Percy?” Hazel stood up and Percy leaned back, letting her pass. 

“Say what you will, but remember, there’s a very strict rule about sex in the RV-”

“Okay that rule only exists because of you Percy-” Leo chimed in from his bunk, “we should’ve never left you alone with Annabeth in the RV last week-”

“This conversation is gross and I want out. It’s just lunch. I’m leaving now.”

She pulled on her coat and stepped out of the RV. Leo had somehow managed to make their RV be just as warm as a house in winter. It was one of his weird almost magic like abilities that she didn’t want to question. 

The weather was mild, the freakish location of Seattle ensured year round nice weather from what Hazel understood, but it was her first time actually witnessing it. The restaurant Frank had mentioned was only a few blocks away from the theater they’d parked the RV behind. 

She opted to walk, between the freakishly nice weather and the way her brain wouldn’t settle down, it was an easy enough option. 

Walking alone gave her an anonymity that walking with the rest of the band didn’t afford her. They weren’t famous enough to be recognized on their own yet. Their first music video was gaining traction, and half of their singles were on the radio constantly. They were getting requests to meet with famous reporters and to be on late night shows as guests and to play one or more of their songs. But on her own she was just Hazel Levesque, college student at NYU traveling across the country with her four closest friends, and going to see her closest friend. 

She bit her lip as she rounded the last corner, pulling the coat tighter as she crossed her arms. She scanned the line of restaurants and saw through the glass window Frank. He was reading a book, or at least he had a book in front of him, his eyes were flitting up and down the street before returning to the book. He was wearing a t-shirt for a tv show that Nico had convinced her to watch once. The shirt was old and stretched awkwardly across muscles he didn’t use to have. There was a jacket laid across the seat next to him, waiting for her arrival and keeping people from taking it. 

She smiled, he looked adorable and it been too long since she’d seen him. She sped up, walking briskly across the street towards him. 

His eyes met hers, and the concern was replaced with a grin. He lifted his arm in a wave and right before her eyes she could see _HAZEL LEVESQUE_ in her distinctive cursive appear on his arm. She could feel the warm press against her own. 

She ran into the restaurant as he stood up from his table, looking in shock from his arm to her, she came to a stop in front of him. 

“Hey,” she said, as if she met him on the morning walk to the cafeteria. 

“Hey,” he said back. 

They paused for a moment before bursting into laughter. He swept her up into his arms and she threw hers around his neck. 

“Percy is going to be impossible to live with after this.” She joked, before kissing her soulmate for the first time. Frank just grinned into the kiss.

________

They made it to Oregon before Percy came to sit before her, sinking heavily into the couch as she kept writing.

“So Hazel,” Percy started with a shit eating grin, “what’s new with you?” 

Hazel shot Percy a glare before sending a pleading look towards Jason, who just put his hands up. 

“And Frank? Anything new with you?” Percy asked Frank as Frank came out of the master bedroom. Hazel didn’t need to look at him to know he was blushing red and casting Nico cautious looks out of the corner of his eye. 

“Well my favorite band just posted a new music video and I saw them live last night.” Frank settled into the couch next to Hazel, “Other than that nothing’s changed.”

Hazel leaned into Frank as Percy continued to make subtle insinuations, aided and abetted by Leo who had spent the last twenty-four hours refusing to stand next to Frank for his “self-confidence.” Jason waited a moment before shoving Percy’s shoulder to get him to stop, which devolved into another pointless competition, with Frank and Leo providing commentary. 

She looked over at Nico, who was speeding again as they raced towards Portland, his eyes met hers in the rearview mirror. She could’ve sworn that she saw the edge of his mouth twist up in a smile as she sank into Frank’s side. 

Absolutely nothing had changed.

**Author's Note:**

> This one was hard. Hazel's voice was _hard_
> 
> Also I love all my demi-gods equally. But Leo's is quickly turning into 3X as long as any of the others.
> 
> The title is from "Do I Wanna Know" by the Arctic Monkeys. And frankly, "Are We" probably sounds a lot like "Do I Wanna Know" but more Hazel friendly. I should maybe do an "inspired by" playlist. but my music is pretty mopey for the most part.
> 
> If you wanna know the progress of the next parts, I bitch about it frequently on tumblr; pastyrobyn


End file.
